Electrical system for the supervision of watchmen.



. A. GOLDSTEIN. ELECTRICAL SYSTEM P01112111: SUPERVISION 0F WATQHMEN.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 10, 1910.

Patented A111. 25, 1911.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

5 Woe ado c with 1200c o %M A. GOLDSTEIN.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM FOR THE SUPERVISION 0F WATGHMEN. AIVPLIOATION FILED MAY 10, 1910.

990,434 Patented Apr. 25, 1911.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

3 1 W0, 1 1 lb a $5 @Qttow Q1 42 Mai.

. To all whom it. may concern:

prevents this UNETED STATES rarnnr onnroi'n.

, ALBERT GOLDSTEIN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO INTERNATIONAL ELECTRIC PROTECTION COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM FOR THE SUPERVISION OF WATCI-IMEN.

Be it known that I, ALnER'r GoLosrn N,

New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Electrical Systems for the Supervision of lVatchmen, of which the following is a specification.

The invention is an electrical system for the supervision of watchmen. It is a central station system in'contradistinction to a local system; or, in other words, the watch- ..man is under the constant supervision at all times of a person posted at a central[ station. It operates automatically at certain times to send in tell-tale signals unless the watchman goes to the several sub-stations on the premises to be protected and operation. This is'the opposite method to that hitherto employed, wherein the watchman is himself required 'to send in the signals, or make a record to be examined at-some future time.

It also provides means for telephonically communicating with the watchman as soon as" a-tell-tale signal comes in. Hence the determination of whether a watchman has done his duty through the night, for example, is not a matter for the nextmorning, but one of immediate discovery. He cannot miss a sub-station on his rounds without thatfact being instantly known, and inquired into. To the device which. watches the watchman there is added a device which watches it, so that any failure of the I -former immediately results in a warning signal being sent to the central station; and again the watchman can be called upon to discover andremove .the cause of the J trouble. In association with the Watch sys- 1 tem there is also provided afire alarm system, whereby, upon the occurrence of a fire, the watchman can instantly "send in a signal, and this fine signal is differentiated from the watch for supervision signals, so that its natureis-at once recognized. Andtinally, provisionis made for the operation of the firealarm system despite troubles 0n thewires on the protected premises, and for preventing the transmission of false alarms, due to accidental wire crossings or like occurrences. l The accompanying drawing is an elec i trical diagram, showing the entire system.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed May 10, 1910. Serial-N0. 560,534.

r The two sheets are to be Figure 2 on the right of Fig. 1.

.from which signals and alternately sent to the central station" at intervals of thirtyminutes apart.

Patented Apr. .25, 1911.

placed together,

. For convenience of description, I will assume that there are two sub-stations(there may be any number) in a given. building, will be' automatically At each sub-station there is a device Which is manually controlled by the watchman for preventing the transmission of said signals. Obviously, the watchman must arrive at each sub-station'before the moment when the signal will be automatically sent, and must, to prevent such transmission, operate the control-ling device. If he does not do this, then the simple fact that a signal is received at the central station, sliows that the watchman has neglected to arrive at the sub-station at the proper time. The watchman. may then be called up on the telephone, provided for the purpose, and his excuse for the dereliction demanded. If no reply is received to the telephone call, then the usual practice of sending a runner to the protected premises to discover the cause of the trouble can be resorted to.

I will first describe the mechanism whereby the signal is, automatically sent, and also,

switches '2 and 3, connected respectively to substations I and II. VVhencontact is made with switch 2, local circuit is closed by way of wire 4. to switch 5, and contact 6, to wire'57, and then by automatic means'a signal is sent to line and station; and similarly when contact is made with switch 3, another local circuitis closed by way of wire 8, to switch 9, and contact 10, to wire 57, and then, as before, the automatic means operates to send the signal to line and so to the central station.

The watchmans signal preventing dev 'ices.In order to prevent'a signal from being sent, the watchman must reach the proper substation, before the momentarso to the receiving anism, is caused to make one rotation in a hours, and over the Saturday to Monday inonly, say, during the night and throughout 'night and Monday morning, 1 provide a rives for its automatic transmission, and 7 must operate the preventive means there located. Any suitable clock-work mechanism contained in a case 12 sets in rotation a cam 14: when released by the insertion by the watchman of a key, for example, in'an opening 13. While the cam 14 is at rest, the end of a switch 15 enters a notch in its periphcry, and as switch 15 is mechanically connected to switch 5, the local circuit, already described, is normally keptclosed. But as soon as 'the cam 14: begins to rotate, the switch 15 is raised and the local circuit is. broken between switch 5 and contact 6. The wire 57 is not broken because switch 15 now touches contact 7. The period of rotation of cam 14 is to be made long enough to keep the local circuit open during the period while the cam 1 is in cont-act with switch 2. Hence the signal is not transmitted. Of course, when the cam 1 1 has completed its rotation the parts go .back to their original position and must be again manually operated? by the watchman on his next round in order to pre ventthe signal being given. The watchman then goes to sub-station II in proper season, and performs the same operation. Consequently, so long as hevisits these sub-stations and operates his preventive devices, no tell-tale signal arrives at the central station, but should he fail to arrive and act at the proper time at either sub-station, then, stated in the beginning, the signal will 'automatically besent in..

If the watchman is not to be kept under supervision continually night and day, but

the 36 hours intervening between Saturday disk 16 which, by suitable clock-work mechweek. This disk is in circuit with disk 1,. and has on its periphery suitably disposed projections of proper length which keep the circuit closed at switch 17 over the night.

terval, the bent end of the switch 17 at other times entering the spaces between said projections and so breaking the circuit.

The telephonic inquir 1 .-It has been stated that in-case a signal is received indicating failure 'on the part of the watchman, he, may be called on the telephone and asked to explain. The telephone connections are as follows: At III is a set of standard telephone receiving devices connecting withthe regular telephone line III. One terminal of the telephone line connects by wire 18 to contact 19 The other terminal connects by wire 20 to two local telephone transmitting stations III and 111 and finally, to switch 21 which is mechanically connected to switch 17. The stations III and III are prefertrue.

suitable support at 31.

ably situated atthe watchmans stations .1 and II, and each is provided with the usual bell, condenser, induction coil and jack. It

will be obvious that when the circuit is .closed by disk 16, the telephone circuit is also closed, and in this way, the telephonic devices are made ready for use during the period while the watchman is under supervision. Hence during the supervised time, all of the bells at the telephone stations III, III, III will respond to a call from the central station, and this call the watchman can answer at the station III or III which happens to be nearest him at the moment, by connecting in his portable telephone.

The supervising transmitter.-T have now described the device which watches the watchman I will now describe the supervising transmitter or, in other words, the device which watches the watching device. This is shown at IV, and its purpose is to send ina signal automatically in case of a failure'of the driving mechanism which rotates disk 1, in which event, of course, the apparatus would no longer. be operative, and hence it might be inferred at the central station that the watchman was alert and doing his duty, when 22 is a code wheel, fast on shaft which vis rotated by clock-work mechanism in the case 24-. Said clock-work mechanism is normally wound, but is prevented from operating by the following means: 25 is the .pallet tail which, when the clo'cli-work' is running, vibrates to and fro. This tail is held from movement and the clock-work so arrested by its entrance into a sleeve 26car ried on the end of a rod which extends upwardly from the dash pot bell 27. The bell 21 has. a small side vent 2S, and is received in the cup' 29. A pin on the rod enters a slot in the lever 30, which is pivoted toany The free end of lever-30 extends in front of a disk 32' which is intermittently rotated by the same mechanism which drives the disk 1, so that (under the time conditions previously assumed) a in fact the reverse might he the disk 32 are two pins 33, 34, disposed 180 apart. When-one of the. pins 3 c comes under the' lever 30, it lifts said lever, and so raises the bell 27 out of its cup 29'. As the pin passes from under the lever, the bell descends, imprisoning the air which can now escape only slowly through the vent 28. By suitably adjusting the size of the vent, the time period of the descent ofthe bell can be regulated. The detailed construction of the aforesaid dash-pot controlling device is shown in U. S. Letters Patent No. 486,67 5 to A. A. Lehmann, dated Nov. 22, 1892. now, the driving mechanism of disk 1 should fail, disk'32 will not be rotated, and hence the bell 27 will be allowed to sink to the bot- "26 from the pallet tail 25, and freeing the clock-work mechanism of code Wheel 22.

Said wheel controls the connected switches 36 to make and break contact at 37 and 38. On-the shaft of wheel 22 is a disk 39 having a rim of insulating material and a notch 40 in said rim into which enters the bent endof a switch 41, which is connected to ground at G. Switch 4:1, when its bent end enters notch 40, breaks contact with switch 42, and is raised to close said contact to'gr'ound when said disk rotates.

The Zrmism-itter.This is shown at T. It comprises a code wheel M rotated by any suitable clock-work mechanism in the case 43'. Said wheel operates the switches m, m to'break circuit atthe contacts tet, 45, On the shaft of wheel M is a disk N having a rim of insulating material and a ,notch 0 in said rim'into which enters the bent end of a switch a, which is connected to ground at G Switch n, when its be'nt end. enters notch 0,'breaks contact with switch vi, and is -raised to close said contact to ground when said disk rotates. The pallet tail 7) of the driving mechanlsm of wheel M is normally held, and sald mechanism 1s so prevented from operating by engagement in a notch in' the end of a. pivoted lever A6, whichis controlled by the magnet 47, which magnet,

1 when energized, lifts said lever to free said pallet tail.

The metallic watch circuit-All of the a pparatus on the right of line an, m, Fig. 2 is located at ,the receiving or central station, and all on the left is located at the transmit ting or protected station. The source of current A is here shown in two sections, with a -connection to ground G between them.

The magnet F is a neutral magnet having two coils 4-9, 50, and controls the switches f and. f. The magnet K controls the switches a and k. The magnets D, D, E, E control the translating mechanism at the central or home station. Magnets I) and E are to be made relatively weaker than magnets I) andE. Hence if two sets of impulses, one set stronger than the other set, be successively transmitted. all of the magnets D. E, I). E will be capable of responding to the stronger set of impulses: but only D, E will respond to the weaker set. Magnet I) controls switch (I to open and close contact at ($8, and magnets D. E, E control switches kl, a. c to open and close contact at The contacts (39 and 71 are in local circuit with battery L and lamps P. Q. The contacts 68. are in local circuit with battery L and lamps I Q. The said lamps constitute translating devices for the signals transmitted through magnets D, D. E, E. The metallic circuit proceeds as follows: From source A, to magnet I). magnet I). line. member a, contact 44., switch m, contact to, switch 1n, wire 48 to junction X.

manner already described.

where the circuitdivides into a line bianch and a local branch. which branches are reunited at junction Y. Tracing, first. the line branch, the circuit is as follows: From junction X, to coil 49 of neutral magnet F, by wire 51, to junction Y. proceeds from junction X, to coil 500f neutral magnet F, to switch f, contact 52, wire 53, (which forms an outer loop extending through the protected premises) contact 54, switch f, wire 55, switch Z2, contact 56, mag net K, wire 57'wl1ich forms an inner loop and includes in series the watchmans sub; stations II and I, as follows: In sub-station II, to switch 58, contact 59, to switch 3, wire 8, switch 9, contact 10. to sub-station I. In sub-station I, to switch 15, contact 61, wire 62, switch'2, wire 4, switch 5, contact 6, and thence to switch k, contact 63, wire 64, to junction Y. The line and house branches having united at junction Y, the circuit con tinues to contact 65, switch 66, wire 67, contact 38, switch 35, contact 37, switch 36, line member a, magnet E, magnet E, to source A.

The operation of the apparatus so far as described is as follows: The magnets D, D, E, E and K. are all normally energized from the central source A. The magnets 47 and F are not energized, F being bah anced. I will now assume that the watchman being due at sub-station I. for ex ample, at a given time, fails to 'go there, and hence does nothing to prevent warning of that fact being automatically transmitted to the receiving station. 'This transmission takes place in the following way: Disk.1 makes contact with switch 2. (ircuitis then established through magnet 47, the coil terminals of which are respectively connected to junction X and to switch 17. Magnet 47 raises lever 4-6, freeing the clock-work mechanism of code wheel -M, The transmitten T is bridged between contact 44 and switch m by a connection containing resistances '79.. 73, which connection is connected through contact a and switch a to ground at G The code wheel M in rotating intermittently. brings these resistances into the circuit and so sends to line a succession of weak impulses. which will operate only the magnets D, E. and produce visual signals at the lamps P, 0. These are the tell- The house branch tale signals which show the dereliction of the watchman. and upon receiving them, the attendant at the receiving station at once calls up the watchman by telephone in the ment of resistances 74. 7 5 and ground connection at the supervising transmitter at IV is the same as just explained. so that when this transmitter is caused to operate, as already describedit also sends in similar weak signals affecting only magnets I). E. In-this event, the attendant calls up the The arrange watchman by telephone and directs him to wind up the actuating mechanism of disk 1,

. which may have run down, or otherwise remedy the trouble.

;5].- The fire' alarm. c0nae0t2'0ns.The object of the part of the system now to be described is to enable the watchman to send in fire alarm signals in case of necessity. This he 'does by means of hand. switches, any numher of which may be used throughout the building to be protected. Two of" said switches are here shown at B and B. The pivoted hand lever B is normally in wiping contact with the plate terminals 6, b of wire 53, and when operated, meets the plate contact 0 connected to wire 57, before it opens circuit at said terminals. When the lever B makes contact at C, thus producing a crossing between wires 53 and 57, the magnet K which is normally energized, becomes shortcircuited, fails, and its switches 70, 70' break circuit at 56 and 63, and close circuit at 76, 77 and 78. It has already been explained that magnet K is in series with coil 50 of "n"eutral magnet F which is normally balanced. fThe removal of the resistance of magnet K now unbalances magnet F, causing switches f and f to open contact at 52 and 54:, and so bringing magnets H and H into the following circuits. Magnet H. From junction X, tocoil 50 of magnet F, .wire'79, magnet H, wire 80, wire 53, switch B, wire 57, switch 70, contact 7 8, to ground magnet H, wire 53, switch B, wire 57,

switch 70, contact 78, to ground G The magnets H and H, thus being energized,

attract pivoted levers h, h against the action 40 of theirretracting springs s, 8. On each of these levers are two pawlsi, 2". which engage shouldered .disksv j, j on the shaft 7'.

The disk shoulders are so pla ced'as that,

when the magnets operate, only the lower pawls 2' act on the disks j, j toturn them.

This brings the upper pawls a" into position to engage the shoulders on the upper edge of the-disks. By this time, the hand lever B has moved out of contact with the terminals b, I), thus breaking the circuit and deenergizing magnets H, H, which release their levers h, it, so that said levers are brought back t o their original position by the retra iing springs s, 8. But because the upper pawls 2"" are now in engagement with the disks this movement of the levers rotates the disks still farther in the same direction.

The detailed construction of the aforesaid pawl mechanism is shown in U. S. Letters Patent No. 966,897 to J. C. Francis, dated Aug. 9, 1910. v r

The object of this construction is simply to cause an arm at on the end of the shaft '2' to move over its path in two steps. Against 65. this aim bears the pallet tail w of the clock- Magnet H. From junction Y, to wire -35 64, contact 76, switch 75, wire 55, wire 81,

work mechanism of a code wheel W which,

tion shown in dotted lines at t it does efiect such release. Goin back, therefore, to the hand switch B, the initial movement of that switch into contact with 0, but without breaking contact at terminals 6, b, determines through the devices described the first step of arm a. The movement of B continued, breaks contact at terminals 7), b

and this determines the second'step of arm u and consequent release of wheel W. Metallically connected to wheel W is a disk C having a notch in its periphery into which enters the bent end of switch 83, connected to ground at G. hen the disk C is at rest, this ground connection is broken.

When disk C rotates, the switch 83 bears on itscircumferential edge and establishes such ground connection. Switch 66 bears on wheel W.

From the foregoing it will beseen that the operation of lever B by the watchman causes the release of wheel \V, which now becoming connected to ground, sends its signal impulses to line. These impulses are much stronger than those sent by the transmitters at T and IV, and hence all four of the magnets D, D, E, E and all four of the lamps P, Q, P, Q'- respond. The code on wheel W is preferably different from that on wheels M and 22.

The reason for providing two magnets H, H is to insure the transmission of the fire signal in case of trouble on either loop wire 57 or 53, for it will be evident that if one of said wires is impaired, only the magnet H or H, as the case may be, will be under the control of lever B, and will still remain operative to turn its associated'disk.

The reason for constructing the device so that the arm a has to make two steps before releasing the driving mechanism of wheel W is to reduce the danger of a false alarm, such as otherwise might be given if some single accidental trouble, such as a cross between the loops 57 and 53, could set free the mechanism by causing the arm I u to move over a single step.

It 1s, of course, to be understood that sufficient lag 1s to be given to magnet K to prevent it becoming denergized by the ordinary code signals sent over the system.

"Obviously, also, any trouble on loops 53 and '57 will unbalance magnet F, which will thereupon put magnets H, H in circuit ready to actuate the release mechanism of the fire alarm wheel W upon the operation of any lever B,'B.

Instead of levers B, B, any other signal initiating devices may be used, such as thercircuitover certain time periods.

2. An electrical supervision system comprising a line circuit, an automatically operating transmitter, a translating device, manually controlled means disposed at a plurality of supervised stations for breaking said circuit at each of said stations, and a circuit closer between said manually controlled means and automatically operating to close circuit for a certain timeperiool to each of said supervised stations in turn.

3. An electrical supervision system 'comprising a line circuit, an automatically oper ating transmitter, a translating device, manually controlled means at the supervised station for breaking said circuit, a circuit closer interposed between said manually controlled means and said transmitter and automatically operating to close said cir cuit vover certain time periods, and means operating upon a failure of said circuit closer to operate for sending a signal to line.

4. An' electrical supervision system ,comprising (1) a line circuit, an automatically operating transmitter, a translating device,

manually controlled means at the supervised station for preventing said transmission,

and an automatically operating device for:

permitting said manually controlled means to effect said prevention, the said transmitter and permissive device being timed so that said transmitter shall operate at certain time. intervals and during certain time,

periods and said -permissive device ,shall operate during said periods, and ('2) a second transmitter automatically operating upon the failure of said permissive device.

5. An electrical supervision system comprising a line circuit, transmitting and translating devices, manually controlled means for preventing transmission, means automatically opera-ting to close said circuit over certain time periods, and means for sending a signal to line operating upon a failure of said circuit closingmeans.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature in presence 'oftwo witnesses.

GERTRUDE T. PORTER, MAY T. MOGARRY. 

